We Speak
by SnowyWolff
Summary: Alice was in Paris, in France, with French people, who all spoke French, and she, from London, in England, an English person, who spoke English, did not speak French. [Nyotalia]
1. Je ne parle pas

**For Yuri Week 2018: Day 5: Language barrier**

 **Some gratuitous French, but they're basic sentences mostly. Translations at the end.**

 **Names:**  
 **Alice - Nyo!England**  
 **Gabrielle - Nyo!France**  
 **Chiara - Nyo!Romano**

* * *

Throughout her life, Alice had prided herself in her decision making. They were quick, concise, and well-thought out that mostly worked in her favour, and if they did not, she would work around it until they did.

But perhaps for the first time in her twenty years of life, she might have made a dumb decision. Plain, old _stupid, stupid, stupid, what in Heaven_ _'s name were you thinking?_ kind of dumb.

Because she was in Paris, in France, with French people, who all spoke French, and she, from London, in England, an English person, who spoke English, did not speak French.

The reason she was in Paris was due to an administrative mishap. She was supposed to be in Rome, where she could speak Italian, because that was her minor, so she could actually speak it. Unlike French. But no, there had been a mistake, a little human error, which had lost her Rome and won her Paris instead. They had offered her Vienna, she had said no, she could handle Paris.

She could not handle Paris.

Paris, on the other hand, had handled her quite well. It had handled her so well that she was now separated from her group, had no means to contact them because she had left her purse, and thus her phone, at the hotel, and every time she tried to make contact with someone they snubbed her and continued on their way to whatever they did in life.

Walking aimlessly through the streets, she found herself at the entrance of a garden. Not knowing what else to do beside hope that she could find help there, she ambled along the path until she reached a fountain. There were benches against the hedges surrounding it and Alice sat down on one in the shade with a sigh. She supposed that at least it was nice weather, with a blue sky and only a mildly inconvenient sun.

"Fuck me," she said, rubbing her face tiredly. Why did this have to happen to her now? What had she done to deserve the punishment of being lost in a foreign country without any means of communication?

Okay, so she wasn't the nicest human being in existence, she could admit a much. And maybe she shouldn't have snapped at the girl excitedly babbling about France to her because she _didn_ _'t want to be there_ , but she had apologized after the tears had started to fall by pressing napkins against her eyes and telling her to 'suck it up, good God, woman, don't take everything I say to heart, who even does that?'

But that didn't warrant this… this blatant bad luck.

Groaning, Alice brushed back her bangs from her eyes and slumped back against the backrest. The park was practically deserted, it being around lunch time, something Alice had been ignoring for most of an hour now, and if Alice was in a better mood, she might have appreciated the aesthetic of the gardens around her.

She might have also appreciated the woman sitting on the other side of the fountain, unabashedly staring at Alice. Her eyes were as blue as the sky, clear, curious and piercing. Her hair was pulled back in an intricate bun, a dainty pearl pin catching and reflecting the sunlight. It matched the off-white blouse she wore, a lining of frills going along the buttons, tucked into a long pale blue skirt. A sketchbook sat on her lap, though Alice couldn't see what she had been drawing. She had a feeling however.

"What?" she said, loud enough to carry across the space, but not so loud to be terribly rude.

The woman blinked slowly, tilting her head, but didn't otherwise change her expression. It was a little unnerving and Alice found herself sitting straighter, self-consciously fiddling with a button on her cardigan.

But nothing further happens, so Alice huffed, looking up at the sky in exasperation. "Why me?"

When she looked back down, the woman had returned to her sketchbook. Her long fingers, nails painted a matching blue to her skirt, curled along the top of her book, her other hand sketching quick short lines before slowing down. Then she paused, looked back up, met Alice's eyes.

Bloody hell.

She stood, walked over and towered over the woman, planting her hands on her hips to appear intimidating. "You stop that."

The woman leaned back, revealing a rough sketch of Alice as she watched her through long lashes. It was actually pretty decent and, on a good day, Alice might have been flattered, but Alice was not having a good day and had stomped over with a mission, so flattery be damned.

She said something then in accursed French and Alice tried to make sense of the words, then realized she was just staring at her pink lips. Fixing her mistake, she met her eyes again, pointing to the sketchbook.

"No," she said because that was universal. " _Non_."

Somehow that made the woman laugh, but it got the desired result as she closed her sketchbook. She set it down on the bench, next to a really cute flowery backpack, holding up her hands in surrender.

" _Je suis d_ _ésolé_ ," she said, then rattled off something else. Then she stopped herself mid-sentence, observing Alice curiously again.

Dragging up some of the basic sentences she had once learnt in high school from the depths of her memory, Alice muttered slowly, enunciating carefully, " _Je ne parle pas Fran_ _çais_."

The woman laughed again, lips curling away to reveal white teeth as she leaned forward. " _Je ne parle pas Anglais_."

"Well, that makes you and everyone else in Paris." Exasperated, Alice glanced down the path, wondering if she should maybe try to find the police again. Pursing her lips, she startled when a cold hand wrapped around her arm.

The woman was speaking again, slower, as if hoping that Alice would somehow catch the meaning anyway. And she did, but only because she caught one word.

"Police," she interrupted. "I'm lost. I need the police." To emphasize her need, she pointed to one of the exits of the park.

Nodding, the woman stood slowly, stuffing her sketchbook and pencil case in her bag, swinging it around her shoulder with a smile. She was taller than Alice, which she hadn't quite expected and it made her draw her shoulders back, making herself as tall as she was.

" _Je m_ _'appelle Gabrielle_ ," the woman said, holding out her hand.

Alice stared at it for a moment before sighing. She didn't have much choice in the matter, so she would just have to hope this woman wasn't some human trafficker beside being an artist. Slipping her hand in Gabrielle's, she shook it firmly. "Alice."

Gabrielle smiled again, held Alice's gaze as she lifted her hand to her lips, and kissed her knuckles.

Alice's cheeks burned and she snatched her hand back, hiding it behind her back. That just made Gabrielle laugh, which wasn't that bad a sound. Plus, it made Alice maybe feel a little warmer on the inside, but that was really just another matter entirely.

They walked in silence, though it wasn't exactly uncomfortable. It could hardly be; they could barely understand each other. Alice filled the time by stealing occasional glances at Gabrielle. She was also fairly sure Gabrielle was aware of them too, even if she didn't outrightly show so.

But the woman was truly pretty in the conventional sense. Her cheekbones were sharp and high, bringing attention to her beautiful eyes, long lashes, thin eyebrows. Her nose was slim, a little too long to be a button nose, but cute nonetheless.

Gabrielle casually brushed her hair back behind her ear, curls bouncing along with her step. A couple of strands had escaped the bun at the back, making her look a little more frizzled and human. Alice wondered what it would look like if she let it flow down her back, then had a brief though of running her fingers through it, and decided to derail that thought aggressively before it got too far.

Little good would come from hitting on French strangers that could not speak English.

Once they arrived at the police station, she was all but ushered inside and Gabrielle almost arrested because apparently Alice had been filed as a missing person already. Honestly, it impressed her a little; it had hardly been three hours.

It took a lot of flailing and quick speech in both English and French before things settled down and Alice's guidance teacher was called. She appeared within the next half hour, pulling Alice in a hug and then scolding her as if she was some four-year-old having wandered off (as much as that description hit the mark).

Alice chanced a glance at Gabrielle and almost wished she hadn't. The woman was hiding a smile behind her hand, blue eyes glittering with mirth as she met Alice's. She waggled her eyebrows, as if she had guessed what was happening, though it shouldn't be all that hard to guess by the looks of things.

The teacher noticed. "Is this the woman that helped you?"

"Yes." Alice gestured for Gabrielle. "This is Gabrielle. That's all I know."

" _Bonjour, Madame_ ," Gabrielle said to which the teacher replied in a rapid string of French. Gabrielle answered everything thrown at her, nodding and shaking her head. Alice just wanted to go back to the hotel, take a shower and forget all about today.

Then the conversation stopped abruptly and the teacher sighed, touching her forehead. Then she once more turned to the officers and spoke to them about God knew what else. Alice couldn't be bothered to pretend to know what was going on, but she decided to make her own exit easier by starting her own round of _merci-beaucoups_.

When she came back to Gabrielle, for some reason the words stuck in her throat. For an even dumber reason, she said, "Thank you," in plain old English.

For the first time in her life, she felt she could relate to Chiara Vargas' occasional need to slam her head against a flat surface in embarrassment.

Gabrielle laughed again, she seemed to have been doing that a lot at Alice. She stepped closer then, her smile becoming a little more coy.

" _Le plaisir_ _était pour moi_ ," Gabrielle said, taking Alice's hand in hers again. She pressed a paper against her palm, winked and added softly, " _Un cadeau_."

She left before Alice could form a coherent response, or a coherent thought for that matter. Then her teacher finally got permission to drag Alice back to the hotel.

It wasn't until Alice was sitting on her bed, her roommate out and about in the hotel, that she had the time, and mind, to unfold the paper Gabrielle had given her. Alice breathed sharply as she smoothed out the creases of the drawing of her, sitting on that accursed bench, something written in French at the top, numbers scribbled out at the bottom, signed with a heart.

"Oh, _mon Dieu,_ " she sighed and fell back on the soft covers.

Paris had _really_ handled her well.

* * *

Three years had passed since her trip to Paris. Three years of bilingual text messages, carrying around pocket FR-EN and EN-FR dictionaries, French classes and ridicule by her flatmate.

And now she was back in Paris.

She fiddled with a button on her shirt, wondering if she might have overdone it. Chiara certainly thought so, but then again Chiara thought saying any sort of emotion out loud was overdoing it.

It was so, so stupid, really. They had decided to meet again in the same park they had met then. It was summer now, and actually nice weather, and Alice had dressed up, and she was so, so nervous.

She stared down at the flowery skirt, feeling more than a little silly. Chiara had sat all day with her, going through her closet until Chiara had declared it all muck and dragged her to a store to find her quote-unquote "something so cute your Parisienne will be swept off her fucking feet, you hear? You forced me to be invested in this, so I'll make damn sure you look both presentable and fuckable."

Honestly, Alice wasn't entirely sure about the second part, but Chiara had ignored her sputtering and now here she was. In Paris. In France. With French people. Actually understanding French this time around. Or better than before anyway.

" _Bonjour, ma ch_ _érie_."

Alice almost dropped her bag, swivelling around, all French evaporating from her mind. "Oh, bloody hell."

Gabrielle was as gorgeous as she had been three years ago, and it shouldn't have caught Alice as much by surprise as it did because Gabrielle sent her pictures _all_ the time, but she was positively radiant. She wore a creme-coloured blouse, a pair of sleek black trousers and matching black heels that terrified Alice a little. Her hair was braided and twisted into another bun, long curls framing her face. Her lips were cherry red this time, pulled into a laugh as blue eyes twinkled.

"No greeting for me?" Gabrielle asked, her French accent doing things to Alice that weren't entirely unpleasant.

Alice prided herself into being an eloquent and well-spoken woman, able to hold intricate discussions and proper presentations, yet she lost all that skill the moment Gabrielle set her pretty blue eyes on her and batted her long lashes. "I, uh." She gestured vaguely. "Good day."

"Good day?" Gabrielle raised her perfectly thin eyebrows, a teasing smile pulling at her lips.

"Beautiful," wasn't exactly what Alice had meant to say, but the word fell from her mouth anyway. She sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose and held up a hand as if to stifle the giggle that escaped Gabrielle. Trying again, speaking words she had repeated over and over again so she would say them right, she met Gabrielle's eyes. "I mean, let me try again. _Bonjour._ _Tu es magnifique aujourd_ _'hui_."

Gabrielle licked her lips, something in her eyes shifting just a little closer to _want_. It took three large strides from her long legs to close the gap between them and she cupped Alice's face as if she did it every other day. "And you look beautiful as well."

Reaching up and placing her hand on Gabrielle's upper arm, Gabrielle's fingers gripping her elbow, Alice glanced at her lips and all she needed to do to kiss them was stand on the tips of her toes—

The concrete she was suddenly forced to sit on made her shiver, her skirt billowing around her, and she stared as Gabrielle gave her the most aggravating, teasing smile.

"Since you never did allow me to finish my drawing then," she explained, positioning Alice's face to tilt down and away from the sun, brushing her hair aside and setting one hand in her lap and the other on the concrete. "Now, don't move."

"You're joking."

Gabrielle laughed, sitting on the gravel at her feet, and retrieved her sketchbook from her bag. She poked at Alice's leg with her pencil and Alice frowned. " _Souris_ , _mon chou._ " Gabrielle demonstrated the sentiment with a smile of her own and Alice sighed, trying to smooth out her features and settle on something that could probably be a small smile.

"Honestly, if I say ' _non_ ' again, would you stop?"

" _Non_."

Alice rolled her eyes, but sat still. It wasn't as if she didn't appreciate the gesture. To be drawn by Gabrielle, actually studying fashion but enjoying portraiture from time to time as well, was something Alice had dreamt about (albeit wearing far less clothing), though Alice had the feeling it was because Gabrielle could then draw her creations onto her subjects and Alice didn't know how to feel about that.

"This is not how I expected our reunion to go, you know," Alice said after what felt like an hour had passed. It probably wasn't nearly as long, but Alice's neck was beginning to cramp and her butt was starting to go numb and she still wanted to kiss Gabrielle.

"Should I walk you to the police again?" Gabrielle's eyes glittered as she glanced momentarily up from her drawing before they flicked back down again.

"Funny."

"I think so, yes."

"I would've liked to see you walk around London without speaking English. See how well _you_ fare," Alice huffed.

"Good thing I speak English now," Gabrielle quipped, shifting a little and wincing at the gravel digging into her skin. "And I would hope you might show me around London if I come visit?"

Alice glanced at Gabrielle, at the purse of her lips and the slight slant of her eyebrows in concentration, and sighed because of course she would. But Gabrielle was being a tease, so Alice felt she didn't deserve to know just yet.

"Depends on how much longer I'm supposed to sit here."

"Just a moment more."

A moment turned out to be about half an hour until Gabrielle finally stilled, held up the sketchbook critically before nodding, and then stuffed it in her bag. Alice immediately started stretching, reaching her arms above her and moving her neck around with a relieved sigh. She paused when she noticed Gabrielle's eyes on her. Still as blue as the sky, still as glitteringly beautiful.

And then Gabrielle's hand was on her knee and she used it as leverage to life herself of the ground and their noses were almost touching and—

Alice grabbed Gabrielle's arm to prevent her from moving and pressed her lips against hers, closing her eyes. Gabrielle gasped softly before returning the kiss, lips moving slowly against Alice's. When they broke apart, Gabrielle was grinning, perhaps a little smug, and ran her fingers across the fabric of Alice's skirt suggestively.

"How impatient," Gabrielle said.

"And whose fault is that?"

Gabrielle leaned up again to peck her on the lips before getting to her feet fully. Her blouse rode up as she stretched, not that Alice was staring or anything. Then, Gabrielle held out her hand and Alice allowed herself to be pulled up, just a little too close to Gabrielle. The Parisienne took it as an excuse to brush her hand over her lower back before tugging Alice away from the park excitedly.

"I know a place where we can, hmmm, catch up?" Gabrielle tilted her head questioningly, though Alice knew that Gabrielle knew exactly what she had said.

Ignoring the blush on her cheeks, Alice fell in stride with Gabrielle, squeezing her hand with a small smile of her own. "That would be delightful."

* * *

 **Gabrielle's English is supposed to be a little crooked because she's still learning. Alice's French is probably quite worse.**

 **Translations:**

 ** _Je suis d_ _ésolé_ – I am sorry**

 ** _Je ne parle pas Fran_ _çais/Anglais_ – I don't speak French/English**

 ** _Je m_ _'appelle Gabrielle_ – My name is Gabrielle**

 ** _Le plaisir_ _était pour moi_ – The pleasure is all mine**

 ** _Un cadeau_ – A present**

 ** _Tu es magnifique aujourd_ _'hui_ – You are/look wonderful today**

 ** _Souris_ , _mon chou_ \- Smile, my sweet bun (endearment)**

* * *

 **Originally posted on the 5th of September on AO3.** **Part of my catching up spree.**


	2. I Missed You

**For the 2018 Fall event: Day 1 - Cozy**

* * *

Oversized jumper, thermal leggings, thick woollen socks, a good book and a steaming cup of Earl Grey had Alice curled up on her small couch, a blanket thrown haphazardly across her legs. She was entirely ready to spend the day lost in another world.

Chiara, her flat mate, had gone back to her family in Italy for the duration of the fall break, so Alice had their spacious flat to her alone.

Sighing, she huddled a little closer into the cushions of the couch, sipped her tea and found the page she had left her book on. There was nothing better than peace and quiet on a dreary English afternoon, something that had become rather sparse since her relationship with Gabrielle had happened. Texts, calls, snaps, tweets, stories and God knows what other phone apps thrown at her had thrown it all in disarray. University had also been no help in this.

Quiet was rare, so Alice intended to utilize it to the fullest.

Yet for once, there had been no texts, no silly exclamations in a garbled mix of French and English that had become the standard for their conversations, not even a snap of Gabrielle's bed with a message of _it_ _'s so empty without my petit lapin :'(_ that had Alice blush as red as Chiara.

Alice frowned at her phone, lying innocuously on the table. She had already checked three times whether she had somehow accidentally turned off sound or notifications, sent multiple texts herself (even a daring _I_ _'m thinking of you ;)_ ), but there hadn't been anything at all.

It was just a little worrisome.

She reached for her phone, scowled at her lock screen as it held no notifications. Unlocking it, she set about sending another text, conveying clearly and wordily just what she thought of this development. But before she could hit send, the doorbell rang.

Glancing between her phone and the front door, Alice slowly disentangled herself from the warmth of the blanket. She dropped her phone back on the table and padded across the room, wondering who in the world would be at the door. If it was another one of those sales persons after she had made it very clear she did not appreciate their pitches, she'd tear them a new one.

So she forgot to check the peephole, now too agitated to care (and Amelia's baseball bat still stood behind the umbrella pot in case _of_ ), and all but ripped open the door. The words stuck to her throat, however, when she saw who was actually stood in her doorway.

" _Bonjour_ , _ma ch_ _érie_!" Gabrielle exclaimed, throwing her arms around Alice.

Alice didn't catch on until Gabrielle had left a definite trail of red lipstick kisses against her cheek and neck. Then, she simply didn't understand.

"What—" she grasped Gabrielle's arms, creating some space between them (and to make sure she wasn't having some sort of hallucination). "You're here?"

"Surprise!" Gabrielle swooped in for a kiss on the lips, hands falling on Alice's hips before she pushed past her, suitcase in tow. "I planned this with Chiara because I missed you!"

Left blinking at the now empty hallway, Alice slowly closed the door, turned to watch Gabrielle meander into the living room. As beautiful as ever, Gabrielle looked just a little frizzled from her flight, her long blue skirt crumpled, hair only in a quick ponytail. She was shrugging off her jacket, glancing back at Alice questioningly.

Alice gestured for her to hand it over, using the distraction as an excuse to wrap her mind about this sudden development.

It wasn't that she particularly minded (the last time they had seen each other was well over a year), but she would have loved some foreknowledge. The fact that Chiara had apparently helped with this also worried her slightly, mainly because Chiara could use it against her for whenever her girlfriend was over and Alice was complaining about them being too loud.

Yet, Gabrielle stood in the middle of her living room, undoing her long hair and running her fingers through the tangles. She perked up when she caught Alice's gaze, smiling and extending her arms toward her.

Alice walked into them, brushed her fingers across Gabrielle's cheeks, into her hair, and kissed her.

Kissing Gabrielle more often than not devolved into making out, devolved into falling onto the bed, devolved into losing clothes, devolved into so, _so_ much more. But today Alice was still set on having a quiet day, French beauty or not, so she broke the kiss that had not yet devolved into anything more than leisure Frenching, drawing a little whine from Gabrielle as she did.

"Okay, well, I'm glad you're here and _je t_ _'aime_ and all that," Alice said, drinking in Gabrielle as she brightened at those words, but moved on quickly before she got distracted, "but I, uh, kind of wanted to not do _anything_ at all today, so—" She gestured to the couch, to her abandoned book and blanket.

Gabrielle followed her hands, nodding slowly. Taking Alice's hand in hers, she smiled. "Sounds like a plan. I had to wake up at three am for my flight. _Une trag_ _édie pour ma beauté, je sais, mais ça en valait totalement la peine_."

"I'm sure it was," Alice replied dryly, running her free hand through Gabrielle's long hair. "I'll help you unpack."

Ten minutes later found Alice back on the couch and Gabrielle in the shower, even if it had taken some time to get her under there _alone_. She had already reached chapter three by the time Gabrielle emerged in a cloud of steam, wearing only a long t-shirt and grinning as Alice's eyes travelled down her long legs.

"It's cold," Gabrielle said and Alice rolled her eyes, moving the blanket as a silent invitation that Gabrielle took far too eagerly. Settling against Alice's chest, in between her legs, Gabrielle sighed into her neck, pressing a quick kiss against her collarbone. "I really missed you, Alice."

Alice absently ran her fingers through Gabrielle's hair until she had to turn the page. She hummed, shifting a little against the pillows to find a more comfortable position, adjusting the blanket to make sure it covered them both. " _Toi aussi, tu m_ _'as manqué_ _,_ Gabrielle."

Gabrielle smiled, moving her toes against Alice's calves. It would have been suggestively had she not sighed tiredly immediately after and closed her eyes, snuggling just a little closer.

Her breath soon evened out and Alice found herself distracted from her book, just watching Gabrielle's smooth features, brushing her hair away fondly. Wiggling down, Alice just about managed to press a kiss against Gabrielle's head, even if her movements made Gabrielle groan softly.

Turning back to her book, Alice settled in for her afternoon of peace.

* * *

 **Translations:**

 **_Petit lapin_ \- little rabbit (endearment)**  
 **_Je t_ _'aime_ \- I love you**  
 **_Une trag_ _édie pour ma beauté, je sais, mais ça en valait totalement la peine_ _-_ A tragedy for my beauty, I know, but absolutely worth it**  
 **_Toi aussi, tu m_ _'as manqué_ \- I missed you too**

* * *

 **Originally posted on the 7th of October on AO3.**


	3. Home Is with Her

**For the 2019 Nyotalia Event:** **Day 2 - Home / Travel**

* * *

The distance between Paris and London might not be that much in the grand scheme of the whole wide world, but it was considerable enough that their encounters were few and far between.

Yet, modern technology had made it easy to keep in touch, maybe not every day, but texts, calls, photos and videos could all be exchanged to keep each other posted, to talk about everything and nothing at all, to love each other.

When they got around to planning to physically see each other, they made sure it fell in a way they could spend most of their time together, even if they couldn't always get as long off to do so.

Still, over the years, as common as travelling had become between them, Alice could never get used to flying. She disliked the airport, disliked being compressed in a small space with a lot of people, disliked the stress that accompanied it all.

But she loved Gabrielle, so she could put up with it, just for her.

The woman on her left sneezed, and Alice would have shifted a little more to the right had some twat not decided to manspread himself all across the available space. Debating whether she could get away with being rude, Alice consoled herself with the thought she would soon be with her girlfriend.

It was only an hour, she thought primly, hugging her jacket a little tighter around her chest. They hadn't even taken off yet, but everyone seemed to finally be seated, even after some lady had thrown a fit about why her bag had to be in the overhead bins.

The intercom crackled on to announce they had to wait until a delayed flight had landed.

Alice slumped in her seat and prepared herself for the worst possible scenario.

As it turned out, they were filed out of the plane again to wait at the gate. Alice didn't bother to listen to the whys and hows. She sent Gabrielle a text and was almost immediately bombarded with sympathetic hearts and emojis.

They messaged back and forth, just silly strings of conversation where Alice made remarks about the people around her and Gabrielle begged her to stop describing clothing like some abstract alien concept.

Finally, after what felt like forever, they were ushered back into the plane, back between Miss Sneeze-a-lot and Mister I-have-a-tiny-dick-so-I-must-compensate-in-everything-else (one of which was distinctly less poetic, but frankly Alice didn't think men inspired particularly poetic thoughts to begin with), and hopefully an hour-ish away from Gabrielle.

 _Text me when you land!_ 🌹💖💝💕✨

Just before she turned her phone off, Alice sent one heart emoji in return.

* * *

Alice almost dropped her suitcase when Gabrielle took a running start at her, flinging herself around Alice's neck with little care for their surroundings.

"Oh, Christ!" Alice fumbled, wrapping one arm around Gabrielle whilst trying to keep a firm grip on her suitcase.

"Oh, _dieu_!" Gabrielle teased. She leaned back to brush Alice's bangs from her eyes and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, respecting Alice's dislike for PDA.

Alice smiled, broader still as Gabrielle took her hand and lead her to the car park, her small Renault an almost welcoming sight as they stuffed Alice's small suitcase in the bonnet (admittedly due to a lot of items already making their home in Gabrielle's large apartment).

Once they had both climbed inside, Gabrielle caught Alice's chin between her fingers and leaned over to kiss her, and Alice indulged her, sighing into it.

"I love you," Gabrielle said, turning on the ignition.

" _Je t_ _'aime,_ " Alice replied with a smile, wanting nothing more than to be home—because Gabrielle's apartment was as much a home to her now as her own if not more so.

Gabrielle grinned and stole one last kiss before she reversed from their parking spot.

The drive through Paris took both too long and not long enough. Gabrielle filled the car with chatter about mundane things: what had changed in Paris since Alice had last been, a little gossip about her workplace which she divulged with a glimmer in her eyes, as if she was sharing the secrets of the universe with Alice and only her, what she had all planned for them to do together.

When they finally arrived home, and Gabrielle had taken it upon her to carry Alice's luggage, Alice couldn't help but just take a deep breath as Gabrielle tossed her suitcase somewhere in the bedroom.

"Welcome home, _mon petit lapin_ ," Gabrielle cooed, wrapping Alice in another overzealous hug.

"Yes, yes, glad to be." Alice kissed Gabrielle softly, happy to have her Parisienne back in her arms. Deflating slightly, she rested her head against Gabrielle's shoulders. "I hate flying so, so much."

"I know you do, darling." Gabrielle ran her fingers through her hair soothingly. "I'm so glad you're here now. I've missed having you near."

Alice sighed as Gabrielle pressed kisses into her hair and practically melted as her girlfriend's fingers ghosted along her sides. "Gabrielle," she murmured, " _Je te veux_."

Gabrielle paused, leaning back to find Alice's eyes. "Now?"

Impatiently, Alice lifted her arms to begin unbuttoning Gabrielle's top. "No, next week." She pressed her lips against the exposed skin, muttering an exasperated, "Honestly."

Gabrielle laughed, then sighed as Alice continued her ministrations.

As they stumbled into the large bed, Alice's bag quickly shoved off and forgotten, Alice knew there was nowhere she'd rather be than with Gabrielle.

* * *

Gabrielle still lay asleep as Alice stirred, lazily rolling over to press against her girlfriend, fingers following the curve of her breast before drawing nonsense threads against Gabrielle's skin.

Alice watched how her lashes quivered against her cheeks, hair splayed haphazardly around her head. There was something angelic about Gabrielle in the light of the late afternoon sun, but then again, there was something angelic about Gabrielle always. Her graceful movements, her smooth skin, silky hair, warming smile, her bright eyes—nothing compared to them.

Alice had tried. Through rhyme and rhythm and meter and prose, but nothing she wrote could ever come close to the reality that was Gabrielle Bonnefoy. She couldn't capture the feeling her hands had on Alice's skin, nor the shivers and the sighs and the moans.

Gabrielle was something entirely unobtainable by pen and paper. Too free, wrapped in skirts and scarves and design. Gabrielle was someone who shouldn't be captured.

Pushing herself up against the mattress, Alice pressed a kiss against Gabrielle's lips fondly, then rolled over to get out of bed—or attempted to anyway, until Gabrielle's arms wrapped themselves around her waist and the Parisienne pressed her face against Alice's side with a quiet moan.

"Stay," she whined, long and drawn-out.

It was kind of cute, kind of really annoying, so Alice opted to roll her eyes and press against Gabrielle's arm to attempt to dislodge her. It didn't work, and Gabrielle blew a raspberry against her hip in retaliation.

"Oh, shush you," Alice muttered, brushing back Gabrielle's fringe with fond fingers. "Unless you want me to attempt dinner, I propose we dress up and eat out. My treat."

Gabrielle laughed softly, letting her arms fall from around Alice. "Very well. I'd better take us somewhere _very_ expensive. None of this 'my treat'-ing."

Alice had long since learnt that there was no dissuading Gabrielle once she had set her mind to something, unless Alice stooped to heinous tactics which generally involved coy glances and a loss of clothing, though that hardly worked after they had already had sex.

They showered and dressed, and perhaps they should have done the showering separately because Gabrielle could be incredibly distracting, but eventually, after Gabrielle had fussed both over her own as well as Alice's immaculate appearance, they drove to one of Gabrielle's favourite restaurants.

The evening was spent on catching up on the things they hadn't yet had the chance to tell each other, drinking too much wine, warm laughter and even warmer familiarity.

During the desert, as Gabrielle twirled her spoon in the air while retelling something funny that had happened at work, slipping between French and English as she giggled, Alice reached over and placed her hand over Gabrielle's wrist, smiling lovingly as Gabrielle's twinkling eyes met her own curiously.

"I've missed you so much, Gabrielle," Alice said, so sincerely that Gabrielle blinked, smile softening as Alice switched to French to add, " _Je veux venir vivre avec toi_."

" _Ici_?" Gabrielle asked, confused.

"Yes." Alice glanced at her lap, free hand playing with her napkin. "I have been thinking about it a lot. I love you, and I hate being so far apart from you. It's definitely not a decision I can just make obviously, but I would like to, maybe, have it open to discussion."

There was the gentle noise of Gabrielle placing her glass on the table, and then she lifted Alice's chin, looking unusually serious, yet mostly wondrous. "You want to live here, in Paris, with me?"

"Yes." Alice has been thinking about it for months now, had been looking at jobs and exchange programs and anything that might give her a solid anything in Paris. "You know I don't care much for my job in London. Not like you care about yours here. I thought it would maybe be a nice opportunity. You know, once I had something set up here for myself."

Gabrielle's fingers twitched and she opened her mouth, only to close it again, taking back her hand and pressing it against her mouth to muffle a huff of laughter.

Alice felt mildly insulted and stabbed her cheesecake with a little more force than the pastry deserved. It wasn't as if she had asked Gabrielle to marry her, nor had she made any strange suggestions. It was perfectly normal to discuss moving in together with one's loved one.

Grumbling, she glowered at Gabrielle, who finally seemed to have caught on to Alice's souring mood. She waved her hand soothingly, leaning over to tap Alice's nose teasingly—if not in an attempt to placate.

"You have such an unromantically romantic way about yourself, _mon chou_ ," she said, voice still lilted in laughter.

"Well, I apologize for making such an outlandish suggestion," Alice said.

"Not so." Gabrielle rubbed her stocking-clad foot up Alice's calf. "I would love for you to move in with me."

"I hear a but."

Gabrielle cocked her head in confusion. "I did not fart?"

Alice opened her mouth, recognized that twinkle lighting Gabrielle's eyes, and kicked her instead. It just made Gabrielle laugh. Years of actual confusion over expressions, from either side, quickly turning into old jokes either sometimes still fell into, made Alice roll her eyes in mock exasperation, snorting as Gabrielle stuck out her tongue.

"But," Gabrielle continued, "what will you do here?"

"I've been looking around." Alice leaned over to feed Gabrielle the last of her cake. "I could probably enrol in university here."

"And do what?"

Alice sighed. "I don't know. It's been more of a thought than an action so far."

Gabrielle smiled, taking Alice's hand, and, after wrenching the fork from Alice's unforgiving fingers, kissed along her knuckles. "That's okay. Just asking. I would love it if you came to live with me. Most of your stuff already does."

Alice laughed. "It would only be fair."

"Naturally," Gabrielle agreed. "I can ask around as well. And we could probably arrange to meet with some counsellors at different universities here too. We have time."

"That we do." Days and weeks and months and years of time, by all means. So even if they couldn't find something now, it wouldn't mean the end. Their relationship had lasted the strain of many years of long distance so far, and even though Alice would have to return to England in five weeks time, they would continue to love each other from afar.

They did end up sharing the bill, mainly because Gabrielle refused from some romantic point of view and Alice didn't have it in her to argue against that pout and those eyes and that low-cut dress—

And when they arrived home, when Alice brushed her teeth and Gabrielle shimmied behind her to grab something from the cabinet, giving Alice's butt a little squeeze as she did, Alice really knew this was where she belonged. Especially so when Gabrielle returned to wrap her arms around Alice's waist, just to hold, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to her neck.

They swayed a little, even when Alice bent forward to spit into the sink. Wiggling a little, Alice turned in Gabrielle's arms and kissed her, laughing as Gabrielle mewled, brushing their noses together before slipping from her grasp to slip back to the background and settle underneath the warm duvet, pulling it up to her nose.

"Warm?" Gabrielle asked as she wormed her way up to Alice, cold toes pressing against her calves.

"Mostly." Alice pressed a kiss to Gabrielle's hair where she had now nestled herself against her. "Much warmer anyway when you're here."

So warm, the soft little giggle that Gabrielle sighed made Alice glow, knowing that it was she alone who could elicit such soft little noises in the quiet hours of the night. They were hers alone, and she intended to keep them forever.

"Love you, _mon coeur_ ," Gabrielle murmured, fingers finding Alice's and intertwining them, dozing off not soon after.

Alice smiled and curled her free arm under Gabrielle and pressing her that much closer to her. " _Je t_ _'aime,_ my lovely."

* * *

 **ive missed my gals,,,**

 **Translations:**

 ** _Oh, dieu_** **\- oh, God (exclamation)  
** ** _Je t_** ** _'aime -_** **I love you  
** ** _Mon petit lapin -_** **my little rabit (endearment)  
** ** _Je te veux_** **\- I want you  
** ** _Je veux venir vivre avec toi_** **\- I want to come live with you  
** ** _Ici_** **\- here  
** ** _Mon chou_** **\- my sweet bun (endearment)  
** ** _Mon coeur_** **\- my heart (endearment)**


End file.
